Ava was sixteen years old when the foster home she had lived in for nearly four years went up in smoke.
At the time of the fire there were three kids including her living in the house, another girl nearly the same age and a boy not yet seven years old. Ava had woken up just as the fire was spreading into the hallway.
She remembered being incredibly calm, even as the flames ate away at everything they touched. Ava woke Kayla, the other girl. Kayla was scared and clung to Ava as they walked down the burning hallway to Luke's room.
He was already awake and at the door. Ava picked him up and together all three of them made it out of the house.
Together they sat on the grass of the small front yard and watched as firemen arrived and tried in vain to keep the house from burning to the ground. The fire roared in defiance as the firemen attempted to put it out with hoses.
None of the children even gave a second thought to the fact that their caretakers were still inside, burning along with the house.
Godric heard his child's cry of pain and felt the searing ache through their bond. Eric dropped the tiny brunette quickly and stepped back.
He heard the human woman of Eric's exclaim, "Oh my God!"
Ava had landed on her feet, but stumbled slightly forward as Eric dropped her. All eyes in the room, including her own were on her hands.
The small girl's hands were engulfed in silvery blue flames. The heat coming from them was so intense Godric could feel it nearly scorching his own skin where he stood. In all his years Godric had seen much. He had never seen anything quite like this though.
Breathing in, he could smell Eric's seared skin and looked over to see two handprints clearly burned into his child's flesh. Unlike most burns these did not heal. They were blistering, the skin still sizzling. His attention turned back to the girl who had caused the burn, her heartbeat was fluttering much faster than was healthy.
He took a step towards the girl on fire despite the heat. "Ava," he said. Her gaze did not move from her hands. It appeared as though the flames, which were steadily licking their way up her arms, hypnotized her. "Ava!" he called again, this time louder and more sharply than before.
Ava's head snapped up and he saw nothing but fear in her blue orbs. She stepped back, trying to distance herself from Godric. "I'm sorry," she choked. "I didn't mean to, I can't…" She seemed at a loss as to what to do. "Go out, go out please," she whispered to herself. Ava closed her eyes and took in a breath. When she opened her eyes again they held determination. With shear will and calming breath Ava brought down her heartbeat and the flames. They all watched, as with each breath, the fire enveloping her hands seemed to shrink, until there was nothing left.
Ava released a sigh and shrieked in surprise, when an alarm sounded and the light in the corner of the room started going off.
Godric turned quickly to Eric, "Take the human and spill no blood on your way out." Eric sent one last glare at Ava before grabbing Sookie, who protested noisily.
Ava swallowed. She was now alone with Godric after burning his progeny quite severely. Well, they were alone, if you didn't count the knocked out man in the corner or the large dead body. From her dreams Ava knew Godric no longer had much of a temper, but surly hurting Eric was the one way to bring out what was left of it.
The short vampire took another step toward the young girl, who countered with another step back, directly into the metal shelf her head had previously smashed into. It awakened Ava to the fact that the left side of her head was on fire and not in the same way her hands just were.
Godric's dark eyes softened. "I won't harm you."
"Ya sure, cause I kinda just burned my handprints into your vampire kid's chest," she retorted.
Godric understood her weariness. His voice remained passive as he spoke again, "Eric will heal. I would like to get you out of the church as quickly as possible. Your car is nearby yes?" He reached out one pale hand toward her.
Ava looked at the outstretched hand. She knew that if she took it that it was an admission of trust. Trusting a vampire was a dangerous thing, but this was Godric. She knew more about him than she knew about herself. Swallowing her fear Ava took it and let Godric literally sweep her off her feet.
"You might want to close your eyes for this." His words vibrated through her as she wound her arms around his neck. She did one better and dug her face into his shoulder. Ava felt air rush past her as her stomach dropped. It was probably the oddest sensation Ava had ever experienced. Besides her hands lighting on fire of course.
"You can open your eyes now." Never in her life had Ava been so glad to see the Pickle mobile. Godric gently set her down on the road. He took several steps back, wanting to put distance between himself and Ava. The girl's skin was an almost uncomfortable temperature, even for a vampire at the moment. Ava turned to face him. "I have to go back to the church, I fear for the people's safety."
"Never for your own though huh," she whispered. Their eyes met again. "You still want to end it all. Even after you saw how upset he was at your disappearance, imagine his reaction when you tell him." They both knew whom she was referring to.
His gaze was steady as he spoke, "Two-thousand years is enough." Godric had told her his age to shock her, to make her realize how fruitless it was trying to try and dissuade him from his course.
She never flinched. "Maybe you should stop counting if your age bothers you that much."
The self-proclaimed two thousand year-old vampire blinked. A smile spread across his lips. The girl who smelled of juniper and smoke never reacted the way he expected her to.
"I have to go." Godric turned ready to make his way back to the church.
"I'm not giving up!" His neck twisted, eyes taking in the fierce expression on her face.
"You should. How did you put it before? 'God helps those who help themselves'. I believe a similar saying is 'You can't help those who don't want to be helped'."
And with that, Godric left Ava standing on the road.
Mechanically Ava got into the Pickle, started the engine and drove.
The tears that stung the corners of her blue eyes were not from sadness. As many of the younger kids at Gigi's liked to say, 'Ava doesn't get sad, Ava just gets mad'.
How fucking dare he! Who the hell was he to dismiss her like that!
Ava took two deep breaths, trying to get her anger under control. It wouldn't do any good if the steering wheel melted underneath her hands.
Fuck this shit! What did she care if the stupid vampire burned to a fucking crisp? Not her problem.
After driving for nearly five hours Ava pulled over on a ridge in the middle of nowhere. The sun was coming up, peaking over a distant crest. The tears that she had held in before were falling now. She choked as she tried to breath and her body heaved in a sob. What if right now somewhere Godric was burning? Why did she care so much?
She rubbed at her eyes furiously. Two flipping days and she was crying over him. What was wrong with her? Ava couldn't even remember the last time she had cried.
Ava fumbled with her bag searching for her phone. She got it open and quickly dialed.
Gigi picked up on the second ring, "Yellow!"
"Gigi?" Ava's voice cracked. She had been hoping just to listen to the voice mail, but she should have known Gigi would already be up and about. The woman never slowed down.
"Oh honey, tell Gigi all about it."
Ava let out a wet laugh. "I shouldn't have come. It was all for nothing. He doesn't want my help, he said it to my face. And everything has gone so terribly wrong ever since I got here." She didn't tell Gigi how her hands lit on fire, or how she burned a vampire who was going to rip her throat out with his fangs. Gigi thought she had come to Dallas to meet up and help an old friend from another foster home. That was what Ava thought anyhow.
"Sweetheart I think you are skipping over some facts. Now I got something to say and I need ya to listen to me." There was a pause over the line. "Your first week, when you came to my house, the first time you finally slept the whole night. A man came and talked to me about you." Ava's heart froze. "He was dressed in an awful trench coat of all things. He told me things about you I didn't really believe. He told me one day you would have dreams. You would dream of those that needed your help and you wouldn't be able to stop yourself from going. It wouldn't make no sense, but you had to do it." Gigi took a breath. "Like I said before. I didn't believe. Thought he was some crazy person and kindly asked him to leave."
"Gigi-" Ava tried to interrupt.
"Now I'm not finished yet!" Gigi's voice was sharp and Ava fell silent. "Three months later vampires came out of the coffin, and if they are real, who knows what else in this world is real. But you never dreamed so I put it out of my mind. Then, nearly two years later I heard you and Justin talking late at night about these dreams. I know I don't move so well anymore, but that don't mean I am blind, deaf and stupid." Gigi let out a laugh at this. Ava felt shame begin to creep up her neck. "I ain't trying to shame you child, for not saying anything to me. I know how hard it is to trust. You and Justin have always been close." Ava felt more tears slip down her cheeks. "You were born with a gift honey. You can help people when they need it the most."
"But I can't-" Ava began.
"Yes you can! I have never known you to give up Ava. You are a terrier. Once you get a hold of somethin', once you make up your mind, you never let go. Ever." Gigi let these words sink in. "Everyone tells me, 'That Ava girl's a firecracker'. You ain't a firecracker sweetheart. You are a wild fire. You remember when that bad apple got rough with Annabel. You just stared him down, told him never to come near her again. And he never did."
Ava vividly recalled it. She was afraid her whole body was going to go up in flames her skin burned so badly. "There is somethin' about your eyes when you get angry. You scare people, scared him. Don't go thinking it's a bad thing because it ain't. You scare the right people Ava." Gigi took in a long breath. "Now if you been dreamin' about this vampire that means you are not only supposed to help him, but you are exactly what he needs. I know you and God aren't on the best of terms, but he sent you to this vampire for a reason." Ava could here someone talking in the room with Gigi, but she heard Gigi tell them to hush. "Now go to that stubborn vampire of yours and light a fire under his ass, pardon me." Ava smiled at Gigi's words.
"Gigi," Ava said, her voice barely a whisper. "Thank you."
"Anytime honey, anytime."
It was night when Ava finally made it back to Dallas and close to dawn when she finally reached Hotel Carmilla. Ava thought it was certainly a good thing that she wasn't a Christian or she would have thought all the setbacks on the journey to get here were signs she should just turn around.
First it was a flat tire. Luckily Ava had a spare and knew how to change it. She would have to remember to thank Johnny for teaching her.
Then she had gotten pulled over by a cop. Ava had been speeding, but who could blame her, it was a life or death situation. The cop of course wouldn't have thought of it that way so Ava had kept her mouth closed. Unfortunately she was a little jittery, which of course was because she was worried about getting to Godric in time. The cop however had thought she was on drugs and promptly searched the entire vehicle. Eventually he found nothing and let her go with a ticket.
If that wasn't enough, Ava was ready to set something on fire when she first saw Godric's house. It was in shambles. There were a couple other rubber-neckers pulled over so she went up to a slightly pudgy lady in a very pink pantsuit.
"What happened?" Ava asked trying not to sound too interested.
"Well they're saying it was a gas explosion but that is just malarkey," the woman answered. The brunette could tell she was pleased as a pickle to tell another person this story.
"Oh?"
"Yep!" The woman popped her P. Ava narrowed her eyes, how annoying. "This was a vampire's house," she said in a conspiratorial whisper. "Apparently that Fellowship of the Sun church sent one of their people as a suicide bomber.
"Oh my gosh!" She felt sick.
"I don't know if they got any but it sure was exciting to hear about." Ava agreed completely, suicide bombings were one of her favorites things to hear about as well.
"I wonder where all the vampires went?"
The woman looked at her funny. "Well, of course they went to that hotel Carmilla, largest vampire hotel in Texas, no in the entire nation!"
Ava immediately turned around and ran back to her car, ignoring the calls of the woman behind her. That son of a bitch better be alive, because Ava was going through a hell of a lot of trouble to find him.
The Pickle had barely turned off by the time Ava was out the door and running for the hotel entrance. Once getting into the lobby she skidded to a halt. It was rather swanky and even though it was close to dawn quite a few vampires were still milling about with human companions.
Ava knew for a fact that Godric wouldn't be in this room. The short girl weaved in and out of the crowd to get to the reception desk. "Hi, I need to speak with Godric. I don't know if he has a last name, but he is on the shorter side, my age in appearance," Ava said in a slightly raised voice.
The receptionist raised a blonde eyebrow, "I am sorry but no unregistered guests are being allowed past the lobby due to a current security situation."
The brunette tried to swallow her anger. What the fuck did that have to do with what she asked? "I don't need to go past the lobby if you could just call Godric's room or Eric Northman's. I just need to speak with one of them."
Ava felt eyes on her as she was speaking. She turned to see a blonde man looking at her. "Hey, I know where they are," said the good-looking blonde. Ava turned to him. "Are you a friend of the little dude?"
"Yes, I am a friend of Godric's, can you take me to him?"
"Sure!" The blonde offered his arm and Ava grabbed hold.
"Miss! You can't go up there," the receptionist called after her.
"Oh shove it up your ass strawberry shortcake," Ava retorted as the elevator doors closed.
The blonde chuckled, "You got a mouth on you. I'm Jason Stackhouse by the way. I think that the little dude is in some kind of meetin' or other right now but you can chill with me until it is out."
Ava figured that this was a relative, most likely a brother of Sookie's. Any other day of the week Ava would have been flattered. But today she only had room for one guy in her head.
As soon as the elevator doors opened and Ava stepped off, she felt all the air leave her lungs. She knew this place. There were no thoughts in her head, as the brunette's feet moved on their own carrying her down the corridor.
"Hey, hey! It's the other way!" Jason called after her.
Ava took the steps leading up to the emergency exit door two at a time and hurled herself at the door.
The scene that greeted her was familiar. Godric was standing near the edge of the roof, before a kneeling Eric. Ava knew if she could see Eric's face it would be covered in bloody tears.
"Ava?" Sookie was standing a little ways away to Ava's right. Funny, Ava didn't remember seeing Sookie in her dreams, but then her perspective might not have allowed her to see.
Godric's dark eyes captured Ava's light ones and held them.
Eric was no longer kneeling and had turned to face the person who had torn his maker's attention away from him.
"You should not have come," Godric said, voice destitute. Ava gritted her teeth at the sound of it.
She didn't know how much longer she could take his mopey attitude. She wanted to tear his hair out, scream at him, press silver to his face till it bled. Anything to get him to look at her with sharp eyes. She would do anything to ignite a fire in him like the one that beat so strongly within her own chest. If she could she would set his whole world on fire.
"You shut the fuck up!" Ava snarled. Sookie gasped at the ferocity in her voice and Eric made a step toward her, but stilled himself quickly. The Viking could still remember the pain from the last time he had laid hands on this girl. Godric did not even flinch. "I know you are two thousand years old and it has probably been a while since you had to really listen to anyone, but you are going to listen to me." Ava took a deep breath. "You wanted to know why I came to you, and how I knew what I knew." The brunette stepped closer to the ancient vampire. "I told you somebody sent me, and that is true in a sense." Ava paused biting her lip and struggling with herself. "The truth is…I have been dreaming about you for almost three weeks now. I have seen moments in your life, and I have seen you die on this rooftop numerous times." At this point Ava could no longer see Eric or hear Sookie's reaction; she was to focused on those dark eyes. "I was told when I was sixteen that I was going to have dreams of people I was supposed to help. I thought the person who told me was crazy and for nearly two years I had no reason to change my mind. And then I had my first dream of you. It changed me."
Ava didn't even realize that as she spoke her feet carried her closer to Godric till she was only steps away from him. Tears were building up in the corners of her eyes.
"Something or someone, God maybe, fuck if I know, is giving me these dreams. They mean something. They must mean something." She watched as his lips parted as if to speak, but she continued quickly, "I know you are tired and sick with guilt over your past actions, and I am no Christian, but the little that I know from others, God forgives us as soon as we change our ways and seek forgiveness. You already have done that." Her eyes narrowed and Godric could almost see dancing flames in her irises. "What you need to do Godric, is grow a fucking pair and forgive yourself already. Dying won't set you free. Letting go of the past and acknowledging the fact that you are no longer the same person or vampire or whatever will."
For several seconds after her speech Ava held his eyes with her own fiery gaze, and nobody moved or spoke. Ava was so close to losing it completely. Her skin was burning, but she wasn't the only one.
Smoke was coming off the old vampire's shoulders as he raised a hand and let his fingertips brush across an olive cheek. Warmth rushed into his fingers at the action. "Perhaps you are right." With gust of air Godric was gone from the rooftop. Another puff of air signaled Eric's departure.
"Oh my god! You did it!" Sookie squealed. The petite blonde crushed the smaller brunette in a hug.
Ava's lips curled in a smile all on their own as a tear finally leaked from the corner of her eye. She returned Sookie's hug full force. "Yeah, I guess I did."
